


Transformation

by csichick_2



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-06 00:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4200357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csichick_2/pseuds/csichick_2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thea finds herself at a crossroads, though there's really only one path she can take.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Transformation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leapylion3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leapylion3/gifts).



When Thea read Roy’s note she passed through a range of emotions – anger, sadness, confusion, and finally – well not quite acceptance, but as close as she was ever going to get. She understands where Roy is coming from, but it’s just one more thing at the end of a long year that’s had more changes and revelations than one person should have in a lifetime.

She hadn’t planned on going back to Starling City, but that was before Roy had disappeared on her. She still isn’t keen on the idea – Oliver’s gone and Malcolm is probably still there and she’s had more than enough of parents disappointing her. But she also has the suit that Roy left behind for her, and if Thea is honest with herself, the city needs her because there is no way Laurel can protect it on her own, even with Felicity and Diggle backing her up. As much as she loathes her father, Malcolm did train her well.

The first time she dons the red suit, it feels almost like she’s a child playing dress-up, but her actions in the resulting battle felt like second nature. If she took the time to think about it, that would probably bother her, but in the moment the only thing on her mind is protecting her home. Afterwards, once they have Oliver back, she thinks that it may be the only time she wears the suit as her brother takes protecting her to the extreme, but that’s before he says that he’s leaving. Again. Though at least this time it isn’t tragedy taking him from his home and Thea will actually have a way of contacting him for once. While the Arrow can’t be seen in Starling again – or else Roy’s sacrifice will have been for nothing – Thea knows that if it comes down to it, Oliver will find a way to be there if he’s needed.

While she knows the city needs her, she is hesitant about having the city know she’s helping. Captain Lance seems to have calmed down for now, but there’s no telling when his next vigilante witch-hunt will start. For now, she works in the shadows – the way Oliver intended it to be when he first started, when Diggle was simply a bodyguard and Felicity simply worked for Walter. Working without Felicity also complicates matters, but it’s not insurmountable.

While Malcolm is gone from Starling, much to Thea’s relief, she is aware that he is the new Ra’s al Ghul, so she knows the odds are against him being out of her life forever. While she hopes that it never comes down it as having killed Sara still weighs far too much on her conscious, if Malcolm forces her hand, she will not hesitate to put him down. While the name Ra’s al Ghul is meant to inspire fear, it doesn’t do so with Thea. She knows the man behind the name and he taught her almost everything she knows. The things she didn’t, she learned from Oliver and that’s the edge that will tilt the balance in her favor every time.


End file.
